(Washington, D.C.) — Ahead of this week’s vote in the U.S. House on H.R. 1549, or the “Helping Sick Americans Now Act,” Independent Women’s Voice President & CEO Heather R. Higgins released the following statement:

"This week, the House will be considering H.R. 1549 — the 'Helping Sick Americans Now Act.' Independent Women's Voice encourages all signers of the ObamaCare Repeal Pledge to vote for this bill.

"Signers of the ObamaCare Repeal Pledge are committed repealing ObamaCare, and in a perfect world that is what we’d have already done and would do again tomorrow.

"Signers of the Pledge also support both defunding and deauthorizing ObamaCare, because we recognize the profoundly harmful effects this legislation will have on quality of care, choice in the health care market, access and affordability.

"This bill takes funding from a political slush fund that Secretary Sebelius has used to fund activists, lobbyists, PR pros and absurd projects like pet neutering, and is using to implement ObamaCare and bolster the exchanges, and instead redirects those funds to prioritize sick Americans through the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan.

"Contrary to what some have alleged, this bill does not 'fix' this broken law, and it in no way adds to it. Rather, this bill defunds ObamaCare and a vote for it is consistent with the Pledge’s commitment to full repeal.

"This bill also illustrates the stunning hypocrisy of this Administration. ObamaCare was sold to the American people partly on the promise of helping people with pre-existing conditions. But that promise is betrayed by the design of the law, which underfunds the primary program to help them.

"In choosing to spend this slush fund on the implementation of ObamaCare, this administration is turning it’s back on an estimated 40,000 sick Americans looking for health care.

"Only full and complete repeal will ultimately spare our country the ill effects of this mistaken and wrongheaded law. As we work towards that goal, we must take every opportunity to blunt the the damage that this law will do to the American people and to the American health care system and slow down the implementation of that chaos.

"We urge the U.S. House take this opportunity to put sick Americans first and vote to support the Helping Sick Americans Now Act."

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